ORCHARD PARK - As the Buffalo Bills turn their attention to Sunday night’s AFC divisional round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, injuries are a major storyline.

Their 31-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers exacted a heavy price on the defense as cornerbacks Christian Benford and Taron Johnson, linebackers Terrel Bernard and Baylon Spector, and punter Sam Martin all suffered injuries, and only Martin was able to play after he tweaked his hamstring.

Tuesday, coach Sean McDermott said that all of those players, plus four others who were hurt in the Week 18 game at Miami and missed the wild-card game - wide receiver Gabe Davis, cornerback Rasul Douglas, linebacker Tyrel Dodson and safety Taylor Rapp - would all be evaluated on a “day-to-day” basis.

Sign up for the Bills Blast newsletter Delivered straight to your inbox, additional Bills analysis, insight, stats, quotes and team history from Sal Maiorana

“With everyone, we’re just going to see,” McDermott said. “I’m gonna wake up tomorrow and see, hey, has anything changed from the way we leave it tonight, once I get a chance to be around Nate (Breske, the head trainer) a little bit more here.”

It is a troubling development for the Bills, to say the least. They were able to get past the Steelers thanks to some excellent performances by several reserves such as AJ Klein, Dorian Williams, Cam Lewis and Kaiir Elam, but Pittsburgh is not the same opponent as the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.

True, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense has not functioned particularly well this season, but there was some obvious progress made in the Chiefs’ 26-7 wipeout of the Dolphins in historic cold weather at Arrowhead Stadium last Saturday. And the Chiefs possess one of the NFL’s best defenses, so this is going to be a gargantuan test for Buffalo, and if a handful - or, gasp, most or all - of these injured players can’t play, that’s a big problem.

Johnson will be in concussion protocol, so that’s a gray area for sure. Bernard is believed to have suffered a sprained ankle but McDermott said he doesn’t know the extent just yet. However, he was carted off the field Monday and was on crutches and wearing a walking boot in the locker room afterward.

“I think just more further evaluation, in terms of how he responds to the injury that he sustained last night,” McDermott said of Bernard who has been the Bills best defensive player this season. “So, we’re just taking it one day at a time right now.”

Douglas indicated to a reporter Monday that he thinks he’ll be able to return for Kansas City, and if so, that would help if Benford can’t recover from his knee injury because Douglas would start along with Dane Jackson.

With so many injuries, the Bills are likely going to be scouring the waiver wire to bring in reinforcements to their practice squad just so they have some depth because they may need to elevate some of their current practice squad players.

Certainly one to watch is veteran cornerback Josh Norman, and they also have young cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram who could come up for game day depth.

As of Tuesday, they do not have a linebacker on the practice squad. If Bernard, Dodson and Spector can’t play, they have to sign at least one because all they have left on the depth chart is Klein, Williams, and Tyler Matakevich who typically only plays on special teams.

In what may have been a preemptive move to open a practice squad spot, the Bills released running back Leonard Fournette Tuesday. With Ty Johnson recovered from his concussion, the Bills are back to three healthy backs on the active roster with James Cook and Latavius Murray, so Fournette is not needed.

In two games for the Bills when he was elevated from the practice squad, Fournette carried 12 times for 40 yards and was never targeted in the passing game.

“We wish him well,” McDermott said. “You know, he did a great job while he was here and so not going to get into the reasons why or anything, and it wasn’t anything conduct-wise or anything like that. He did a phenomenal job, and so we just, we move forward and that we wish him well and thank him for his time when he was with us here.”

Those comments would seem to indicate that Fournette, seeing he wasn’t going to have a role moving forward, may have asked for his release. However, it could simply be a numbers game and Fournette was the odd man out.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out twice a week during the season, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills injury report: Several key players could miss Chiefs game